Honor Magic7 Professional
Taking to the stage at Cellular World Congress, Honor CEO James Li introduced Honor’s Alpha Plan, intending to rework the corporate into an AI System Ecosystem.
That plan begins with “an clever telephone”, and whereas that wasn’t on present at MWC, the 4 constructing blocks had been a cellular AI agent, an all-ecosystem file switch, deepfake AI detection and a brand new suite of pictures instruments within the AIMAGE suite.
I talked with Honor’s Luo Wei, Chief Imaging Architect at Honor, to study extra concerning the modern-day challenges of imaging, the place imaging information is processed, and the way Honor’s AI software program can affect shoppers {and professional} photographers.
Honor’s Imaging Historical past
Going again to the likes of Honor 6 Plus, Honor has been leaning closely into pictures as each a differentiator and an illustration of technical skill. The 6 Plus was within the first wave of smartphones that includes a dual-lens primary digital camera, one thing de rigueur at this time however model new and seen as experimental a decade in the past.
CNet’s Andrew Laxon in 2014: ” Though the three photos are all taken from the identical single image, I have been capable of change the main target to function both Lego Milhouse within the background, the robotic on the entrance, or hold all elements of the scene in focus. It is solely a digital impact, but it surely’s finished effectively and can assist lend some inventive background blur for closeup photographs of flowers or meals.”
Then, the push was into {hardware}. With the launch of the AIMAGE suite, at this time’s push is into software program
Earlier than we get on to AIMAGE, I wished to ask why Honor leans into pictures. It have to be greater than demonstrating cutting-edge know-how that buyers can simply see as “higher than final 12 months’s mannequin”?
“I consider recording is essential for everybody,” Wei explains. “What we depart behind in life are these recollections, whether or not joyful or unhappy. They’re proof of our existence on this insignificant blue planet in our huge universe.”
Honor Turns To Imaging Software program
There comes a time when {hardware} enhancements alone can not supply a major benefit in a smartphone digital camera. That is the place software program is available in, and one of many unsung heroes of this strategy is the flexibility to innovate quickly. AIMAGE addresses “the mismatch between the speedy tempo of recent algorithm improvement and the comparatively slower product cycles of chip platforms.”
AI smartphones had been launched as an idea by Google with the Pixel 8 collection and Android 14. Launched in late 2023, producers visibly moved into generative AI in 2024. MWC 2025 heralds a rush of second-generation AI-enabled smartphones. Honor is following its perception within the energy of cellular pictures by leveraging AI to supply extra entry to pictures.
How precisely can AI routines on a smartphone improve entry?
“Whereas smartphones have made pictures accessible to everybody in recent times, some customers nonetheless hesitate to take images or take their very own images. I consider that is primarily as a consequence of considerations about their pictures abilities, and we hope AI can handle this difficulty.”
Honor Imaging On-System Or In The Cloud
After all, picture processing on smartphones shouldn’t be a brand new function. The latest addition of machine studying and neural interfacing has been harnessed by the likes of Nvidia, ARM and Apple as software program “particularly designed for the platforms of the respective makers.” (Morikawa, C., Kobayashi, M., Satoh, M. et al. Picture and video processing on cellular units.”). AI is one other software, a robust software, that sits along with the present code.
One of many key variations is that AI picture processing can occur within the cloud and on the system; the previous leverages extra processing energy, permitting for information safety and velocity. How does Honor cut up these two approaches with AIMAGE?
“Our native mannequin is 3B, and it is not merely a distilled and quantized model of the cloud mannequin. No less than, it is not a subset of our present industrial cloud mannequin. It has been particularly educated for portrait processing and has been specifically optimized to accommodate the AI framework of the SOC platform.”
The cloud-based part is, broadly talking, cut up into two, as Wei explains: “The primary methodology includes processing the picture utilizing on-device fashions first, then importing the JPG to the cloud for processing with cloud-based generative fashions; the opposite is a whole end-to-end workflow that matches Honor cameras’ functionality to add a number of RAW photos.”
Honor’s Imaging Strategy To Professionals And Shoppers
The inclusion of RAW factors to Honor seeking to entice professionals to its smartphones, maybe because the second digital camera many carry as a substitute of a sophisticated compact digital camera. The picture of an expert photographer stays one among an SLR digital camera with varied lenses getting switched out till the photographer stops and sits immobile for a minute. What does AIMAGE supply them?
“We need to present them with the highest-performing digital camera that is additionally probably the most handy to function and presents full management. Skilled photographers want to seek out taking pictures positions, and after taking pictures, they should work on colour grading and particular results. AImage has the potential to reinforce these points – suggesting taking pictures positions, simulating results, and dealing with the extra tedious post-processing work. This does not imply we’ll do every little thing ourselves – we’ll undoubtedly collaborate with the trade ecosystem.”
How concerning the different finish of the spectrum?
There’s quite a lot of technical speak behind AI and imaging. You’ve gotten discussions round enhancing, object removing, generative AI fill while you crop a picture, and RAW file assist… but there is a majority of shoppers that simply need ‘a very nice digital camera’ they will level at one thing and press a single button.
Analysis backs this up, as detailed in a examine of smartphone digital camera use within the over 50s. ‘Individuals over 50 years previous don’t have many necessities for the features within the smartphone digital camera utility. What they want is to take images, report movies and consider albums. What they need is the simplicity, simple and safe-operation of the interface.’ (Jiang, J., Zhang, W., Jeung, J. (2020). Preliminary Exploration of Interface Design for Senior Residents).
How a lot of AIMAGE might be hidden away so my Nan can use an Honor telephone and nonetheless see a distinction in her photos??
“When she goals and shoots, she’ll get a photograph that has been processed by an expert pictures “mind,” with composition, lighting, and colours that higher match her aesthetic preferences.
Honor And The Future
It is unimaginable to debate AI with out discussing the affect of generative AI on the inventive industries, of which pictures and illustration are on the entrance line. The place does Wei suppose Honor belongs in that debate?
“Any software that may improve inventive effectivity and make capabilities extra accessible to everybody will definitely have vitality. After all, we have to contemplate how AI’s sturdy intervention at this time impacts the ontology of pictures, although this is not solely the accountability of producers.
“I consider time will give us the solutions.”
Final 12 months noticed generative AI heralded as “the following massive factor” in smartphones. This 12 months, shoppers will probably be on the lookout for tangible advantages. Honor has laid out a long-term path to that imaginative and prescient whereas ensuring step one—imaging—seems to be to exceed expectations.
You’ll find extra out about Honor’s AIMAGE on its web site, and AIMAGE will begin rolling out in March, initially to the Magic7 Professional.
